Why Did Shedeur Sanders Fall?

Was the brand too strong for Shedeur? Perhaps. But that brand can be shifted with the right steps…

Let's walk through the harsh realities of Branding and Business as it relates to the NFL. I spent a career in brand marketing at Nike before leaving to teach personal branding. So, let’s walk through some things that I teach in my workshop to athletes.

Branding Definitions

First, the word brand means a different thing to a lot of people, but an academic definition is that “a brand is the space that a company or individual occupies in someone's mind.”

To say it in a different way, “What do people say about you?” People have said a lot of things about Shadeur Sanders. But the truth often lies somewhere between the hot takes.

Your personal brand sits between how you view yourself and how the world views you.

And in this case, Shedeur Sanders and his father viewed themselves in a very different way from how the world viewed them.

Shedeur’s Brand

Branding is a lot about association. So, what is Shedeur’s brand associated with? There’s a few things.

First, his music . While he has one single hit song, it is surprisingly catchy and it's called “Perfect Timing”. This leads us to his signature phrase and is holding up his watch. It's often a very nice watch, with a lot of diamonds. This leads us to associate Shadeur with his jewelry. And last but certainly not least, he is associated with his Father, Coach Prime, who is a larger than life figure in all of sports. He seems to be an amazing father, but he has a massive microphone on him at all times and is not shy to share his opinion.

Now, all of these associations have gained some sort of benefit for him. He's gotten partnerships with Nike and Louis Vuitton. For music, he's gotten partnerships with companies like Beats by Dre, and no doubt he's got a great jeweler for his diamonds. He also works with Mercedes and Maybach. However, he hasn't spent a lot of time on who the audience is that he's trying to reach, which was NFL execs and owners.

Capability versus Celebrity

Sometimes “Celebrity Eclipses Capability”. And in this case, NFL GMs and execs said that they think his capability is not as big as his celebrity.

We saw this with other cases like Colin Kaepernick and Tim Tebow, who were at a minumu- serviceable backups regardless of what you think about their starting capability. But the media circus that accompanied them was not worth it for an NFL front office or GMs. Trust me, as soon as Shedeur shows up on your team, the looming figure of Coach Prime will be there immediately.

Shedeur has never played for anyone other than his father. Coach Prime said out loud in the media that he was going to control where his son was gonna go, and so a lot of NFL offices probably just don't want this looming over them. Coach Prime has also expressed interest in an NFL coaching job, as recently as 3 months ago when the Cowboys were looking for their new Head Coach.

Shedeur’s celebrity is bigger than a back up and through no fault of his own, his father’s shadow looms over any Head Coach who takes him. Keep in mind, the Head Coach & GM make this selection. This is not rocket science, just simple psychology. Lastly, if they assessed his talent was there, they would take that risk, but they don’t believe his talent is there. Ironically, the team who selected him has made their starting quarterback the highest paid QB in the league with 28 sexual assault civil lawsuits hanging over his head.

Shedeur’s Strategy

If I were thinking about Shedeur’s target audience, it should be NFL teams and GMs. Shedeur’s marketing team & his father, could have done some more work to identify traits and characteristics that they wanted to show to others. They could have focused on things like being a teammate, a leader, a collaborative. These are things you could demonstrate that through your actions and the ways that you speak to your audience. I love Shedeur & the Sanders family. I think they’re great & they’re fun. But, they don't call it the No Fun League for nothing. This is a cut throat business where jobs and legacies and millions of dollars are on the line.

The good news? If somebody like Laremy Tunsil can survive a draft night with a weed filled gas mask, fall in the draft, but eventually become one of the highest paid tackles, and negotiate that deal himself, anything can happen.

And after a young career for Shedeur where he’s had a “snow plow” dad who has moved mountains to make the best possible situations for his sons, maybe a 5th round Draft Pick is Perfect Timing for Shedeur to write his own story?

Education:
If you’re interested in Branding, you might enjoy my Workshop. Much of the above principles are taught in there!

We just wrapped up one of my favorite BrandFathers episodes. Minted New York founder, Marcus Millone, joins the Brandfathers to discuss his rise to fame and building a company in public. When people think of “Building in Public” on tik tok or social media, Marcus & Minted are the brand in mind. Highly recommend this!

Or check it out on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Blessings:

One of the biggest Blessings in my life has been understanding Finance & Education. I was a mediocre student. School was great for my social life, but really hard for me to manage. I never enjoyed it until final year of college- a cruel irony. Later in life, I have an insatiable desire for knowledge and education. There’s lessons to be learned and education can come in many forms…

John Hope Bryant came on radar recently and this episode he did with Cam Newton is FULL of incredible wisdom, history and sound advice. He discusses Race, AI, the future of America and smart strategies for everyone to become a business owner or financially free. His story from South Central LA to multi millionaire founder & philanthropist is inspiring. No course selling. No Get Rich Quick Schemes, just sound wisdom.
Enjoy.